A Cross-genre Study of the (Ec)Static Perspective of Today’s Music

Abstract

This article explores a particular perspective, shared across various contemporary musical currents, that focuses on sound itself as a complex entity. Through the analysis of certain fundamental musical elements and sonic characteristics, this study develops a new method for comparing different genres characterised by a similar approach to sound. Using the benefits of audio, spectra and score examinations, this strategy is applied to post-spectralist and minimalist compositions (e.g. G. F. Haas, B. Lang, R. Nova, G. Verrando), as well as glitch, electronic and basic-channel style pieces (Pan Sonic, R. Ikeda, Raime). Nine musical attributes are identified that help trace a new outlook on various currents in today’s music. The study’s contribution lies in its revealing of a shared musical perspective between different artistic practices, and in the establishment of new connections between pieces that belong to unrelated contexts.

Memory as the Aspatial Domain for the Perception of Certain Genres of Contemporary Art Music

“…One of our previous study (Wanke, 2015) illustrates how authors belonging to these genres center their work on a series of specific sonic morphologies and evolutions. Morphological aspects span a large variety of sound types: the use of microtonality and sonic layers; the construction of sonic masses; the creation of systematic continuous pitch movements (i.e., glissandi ) and repetition.…”

The Emergence of an Ecstatic-materialist Perspective as a Cross-genre Tendency in Experimental Music

“…Xenakis) (Solomos 2013: 355). However, within the E-M outlook, the presence and the intention of the author are essential aspects; pieces such as the String Quartet no 2 of Haas or Pan Sonic’s Keskeisvoima reflect this characteristic (Verrando 2012: 195; Wanke 2015): these composers impose embodied movements onto the music, such as attacks, contrasts, vibrations, interferences; such that the impression given is of a material that is far from being autonomous or self-developing.…”

“…The music that extends this present towards a larger scale (i.e. an eternal instant) is actually based on static constructions, such as the repetition of elements, the use of sustained and interacting tones, and slow progressions (Wanke 2015). Those genres of music that use these practices enhance the exploration of the inner characteristics of sound.…”

“…I recently proposed a sonic correlation between contemporary instrumental and post-spectralist pieces and several offshoots of glitch-electronic and IDM (Wanke 2015). I believe these convergences have to do with a common focus on the sound-in-itself, providing access to a sonic materialism from different directions.…”

“…I believe these convergences have to do with a common focus on the sound-in-itself, providing access to a sonic materialism from different directions. Correspondences between figures such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Giovanni Verrando and Bernhard Lang, and performers coming from independent scenes such as Pan Sonic, Autechre and Raime concern a common focus on the sound-in-itself and its intrinsic characteristics and show similar choices such as the use of complex spectra and periodic movements within globally rich and sculptural textures (Wanke 2015). The sound, continuous or discrete, is conceived as a dense, tactile and three-dimensional matter that is moulded as if it were a physical substance.…”